


the long way home

by TangerineTales



Category: Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Wizard
Genre: F/M, but mostly casual contemplative silence between the two, friendship fic with hints of romance, set pre-Wizard series, some angsty Haruto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 17:00:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5593948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TangerineTales/pseuds/TangerineTales
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It becomes a ritual, somewhat. Haruto knocks on Koyomi's door, gently, whenever he can't go back to sleep; and they jet off to somewhere, there's never a fixed destination in mind.</p><p>(in which both Haruto and Koyomi can't sleep, and have motorcycle trips around the city instead)</p>
            </blockquote>





	the long way home

**Author's Note:**

> A few episodes into Wizard, and I knew I had to write a Haruto/Koyomi story someday. Their relationship (romantic or not!) is just so interesting, and it breaks my heart to see them because they truly only have each other in the world. I know I'm going to die of Feels towards the end of the series.
> 
> That being said, I hope I've done their relationship justice somewhat! This fic is set before the events of the series, when they're still both trying to find ways to be comfortable with each other.

Haruto doesn't sleep much. He can't anyway - not with memories from Sabbath floating into his head every few seconds the moment he closes his eyes. He can still remember the bitter cold of the day, the stench of rotting flesh, the eerie howling of monsters awakening. He can’t shake off the memory of looking around and seeing the world fall into ruin, as Dragon claws and rips and tears at his heart. So he takes short naps, little 3-4 hour attempts at snatching some sleep before the nightmares catch up again. It's effective enough, and besides he never needed much rest to begin with.

One night, Koyomi catches him wandering around Omokagedo, idly following his animated Familiars around the shop.

"You haven't been able to sleep, have you?" she asks carefully, always perceptive.

Haruto shrugs. It doesn't seem polite to say that he can't sleep, when Koyomi _literally_ can't. “What do you do? Most nights, I mean."

Koyomi looks up sharply, as if startled by the question. "Read, mostly."

"Eh, that doesn't sound very fun."

"Well, it is!" She stares at him, wide-eyed and serious, and Haruto wonders if she has always been this way even before the events of the Sabbath, if she's always been so grave.

"Come on," he says, suddenly striding towards the door.

"What?"

Haruto pauses, his hand on the door knob, a smile on his face - like a cat caught stealing food from the pantry, entirely unapologetic. "Don't you trust me?"

He takes her to one of his favourite spots in the city. Her arms are clasped tight around his waist as his motorcycle navigates the slow bends of the hill, climbing up slowly. It's a quiet area - even more so in the dead of the night, and there's little you can see in the darkness, apart from the twinkling of city-lights in the distance far below.

"They can't sleep, just like us," laughs Haruto, stretching out on the grass.

Koyomi sits quietly next to him, delicate and poised. The silence stretches between them, not entirely uncomfortable. Up on the hill, the two of them alone in the darkness, it's easy enough to pretend that they're both normal teenagers with only prep school examinations to worry about. Phantoms and magic and Gates all seem like long ago fairy-tales (and not shaky breaths and pounding hearts and fear fear fear). They return to Omokagedo when the first streaks of dawn appears, and Haruto finds that he feels more refreshed than he has been in days.

It becomes a ritual, somewhat. He knocks on her door, gently, whenever he can't go back to sleep; and they jet off to somewhere, there's never a fixed destination in mind. They never talk much on these trips, never reference them during the day either. Although Haruto is sometimes dying to find out what's going on in Koyomi's head (she's constantly studying the city-scape intently, as if it would divulge some secrets to her), he never pries – he doesn’t think she’ll respond to his questions, anyway.

"Do you think anyone's looking for me?" she asks, one night. It's so soft, he first thinks he's imagined it in his half-asleep stupor.

Haruto sits up. There's a look on Koyomi's face which he's never seen before: an emotion caught between sadness and anger. "I know we said to live in the present. But-" she twists Haruto's over-sized ring around her finger, a rude reminder of her temporary mortality. "I can't help but wonder."

He's lucky in a way, Haruto suddenly realises. He doesn't have to fear worrying anyone because he has no one to worry to begin with. His independence is a freedom in itself. But in Koyomi's case -

"It's not that I'm very upset about this, I'm not," she quickly clarifies, misinterpreting his silence. "It's nothing like that at all. I was just thinking out loud. We should focus on looking for Phantoms and protecting the Gates."

"You're a Gate too, no?" he shoots back, more sharply than he had intended.

That question - more a statement - lingers in the still night air.

Haruto breathes out slowly. "I don't know what's going to happen in the future, how many Phantoms there are left and how many we have to go through. Maybe we'll have to keep fighting for a long period of time. Even so-"

He looks her – and notices, _really_ notices for the first time, how small she is. How inexperienced and lost the both of them are. This whole mess has saddled him with nightmares and a desperate fear of ever failing - his heart races wildly whenever he cuts it too close during a fight with a Phantom and he can see the Gate slowly fading away before his eyes. It has given him all that, but it has also given him Koyomi. And she, him. They were stuck together, whether either of them liked it or not.

"I'll be your family." He pauses. "And you're mine, too."

She returns his gaze, her expression unreadable. "Yea, I guess so."

On impulse, he reaches over to hold her hand. He's surprised to feel her squeeze it in response. Haruto finds his heart hammering in his chest, and wonders if she can feel his racing heart-beat (there's no reason for such a reaction, he tells himself, he's held Koyomi's hand plenty of times before - but he pushes these thoughts to the back of his mind, he's good at avoiding things he doesn't want to think about).

They stay like that for a little while, silently contemplating the city skyline. (What _is_ she thinking about?)

Time passes, and then a little more, and soon it starts to get bright, and they can hear the first sounds of a city stirring awake. "Looks like it's about time to go back," he comments idly, her hand still clasped in his.

Koyomi turns to him, with the widest smile he's ever seen on her face, "Let's go home."


End file.
